Speaking to Metro about how they combated the censors, Stone said: "We weren't going to change the content, so we've written little cards to explain what is going on, what they've censored, and made a joke out of it.

"We're talking about 30 or 40 seconds out of the whole experience but we wanted people to know exactly where the line was - this is what you couldn't see but for some reason the rest of the world could and we have no idea why. It's not cool - it's lame, ridiculous and stupid."

Stone admitted that he was embarrassed about South Park's previous video games.

"We really didn't want to make a game that sucks," he said. "There were some South Park games, like, 15 years ago but they were just cheap licensed products and we hated them, frankly.

"The limitations of the consoles didn't work for us and that's why we didn't do one for a long time. The Stick Of Truth started when we figured out, 'Oh, you can actually replicate the look of South Park on an Xbox, and, wow, you can walk around like you do on the show'."

He continued: "It's a great way to be introduced to the world of South Park - become a character and let that character grow, like a Grand Theft Auto situation.

"So it was a really smart idea... until we figured out we had to write seven million lines of dialog, which was a bit of a shock. It's been so different to make something over three years instead of a week.

"We write jokes, and the jokes are funny. With a game, the fourth, fifth, sixth, 80th, 100 millionth time you've seen that joke it becomes not funny, then you lose faith in it, and then you question it, and you go round this emotional circle."

He added: "We've always liked fresh-baked stuff a little better but, with a video game, it doesn't work that way. But the game isn't just a collection of funny South Park scenes, hopefully it's more than that."

South Park: The Stick of Truth is released in the UK today (March 7) on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.